Truth Never Changes
TRUTH NEVER CHANGES
Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
- Psalms 119:89
So here we are, sitting by our Father at this wonderful banquet he has thrown for us—amazed at how He could love us, forgive us, accept us, and actually enjoy us. He puts His arm around us and says, “Son. I want to tell you lots of stuff about me, about life, about relationships, about eternity. And I have an extraordinary life planned for you. I will always be with you. But you need to understand one thing above all else. I love you with an everlasting, eternal, perfect love. There is nothing you can do to make me love you any more than I do right now and there is nothing you can do to cause me to love you any less.”
Those are life changing words spoken by the creator of the universe to every prodigal who has come home. Never forget them. Hide them in your heart. Now lets talk about truth. The first thing we all need to understand about “good and evil” or “truth and lies” is that the creator of the universe, our Heavenly Father, reserved the right to write those definitions and make those distinctions. We do not get a vote. Never have and never will. The original deception and sin in the garden of Eden in the book of Genesis was man, against God’s specific instruction, deciding to eat off the tree of the “Knowledge of good and evil” so that he could “be like God” and decide for himself what was good and evil, right and wrong. Mankind has been doing it ever since. It is interesting that the Bible tells us that God’s word, His truth, is “foolishness” to those who are non believers. When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior, however, His Holy Spirit comes inside us, and gives us an understanding of God’s word we never had before.
So back to my “expansion” of the parable of the prodigal son. The banquet is over and the next morning the son wakes up in the castle, wondering about the rules, the demands, and the chores he will be assigned. He feels so grateful for the mercy and grace shown him by his father, he vows to himself he will never complain, and will gladly do even more than his father demands. His father comes in and invites his son to join him on a backpacking trip through the mountains of the kingdom. They hike many miles and enjoy each other’s company, laughing and talking and experiencing the glory of creation. The father stops often and explains something about the kingdom that the son never saw or understood as a child. Around one bend in the road, they see an old man carrying a load too heavy for him and instinctively the son offers to help. A smile comes to the old man’s face. The king winks and grins. They continue on their journey, talking and enjoying the beautiful trees and flowers, the sunrises and the sunsets. One morning they come upon a little girl who is lost. She sees the son and mistakes him for his dad. She knows the king and knows his love and kindness. The father and son are starting to look more and more alike, talk alike, and think alike the more time they spend together. She hugs the son, holds his hand and smiles as they lead her to her home. Over the next hill there is a smooth, well-worn path to a popular village. As the son looks down the path, the father shakes His head no. “Many folks I love take that path.” whispers the father. “I warn them, but they go anyway. They break arms and legs, lose their property, and hurt those they love. I spend lots of time in that village loving on those hurt people as they work through their injuries and pain. I wish they had listened to the truth of my word so they could have avoided those hurts and heartache. But some folks learn many good life lessons during those weeks and months and years that I am down there close to them, loving on them, and teaching them as they heal.”
After a week’s journey to the top of the tallest mountain, far off the beaten path, a huge snowstorm starts to brew. The winds blow with a terrible furor and huge trees are tossed about. A limb crashes into the son breaking both legs. The pain is severe. The father picks him up and carries him to a nearby shelter where they hunker down. He guards his son from the flying debris and gives calm instruction. The father splints the legs and assures His son he is safe. Everything will be OK. The major storm lasts for many weeks, the road back impassable. The provisions are meager, and the conditions are rugged and cold, but the comforting voice of his father is captivating and supernaturally peaceful as he nurtures and cares for the needs of his child. Over the next few months there is much time to learn many things. To shoot a bow, to build a fire, to hunt, to battle wolves, to keep warm. As much pain as he endured, the son would later think back and treasure this special time when he was so dependent on his wonderful, resourceful father. Finally, one morning, the snow stops, and the winds settle down. The temperature warms and a steady rain begins, slowly melting away the huge snow drifts blocking the way down. In a few days the clouds open up to a beautiful sun and it is not long before the two are able to begin the journey back home. The son was expecting life in the kingdom to be mundane, full of boring chores and strict rules and regulations. Instead he learned it was a daring, rewarding, exciting, sometimes dangerous adventure to be experienced with a wonderful Father. He learned that truth comes from the wise, eternal words of his father the king. Truth is the essence of life. Truth is how we avoid dangerous roads and how we survive perilous times. Truth is what leads us home.
Now wouldn’t it be great to have Jesus physically walking with us thru our hectic days like the father and son in our “homemade parable”? Think about this. God sent His heavenly, spiritual son Jesus to our physical earth so we could hear, see, and feel Him, He could teach us about God and His plan for mankind firsthand, and He could die an earthly death as atonement for our sins. Jesus is the perfect, full, complete Word of God (John 1:1-5, 14). Just as Jesus was God’s plan for us from the foundation of the world, God also planned to give us, during our life on this earth, a physical, earthly book containing His hand-picked words of eternal truth.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 says, “But you must continue in the things you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
What a treasure! God hand pinned exactly what He wanted us to be able to pick up and read at any time and be assured it is His perfect word, His truth for us. It is His recording of the story of history from His perspective to reveal to us and teach us about His love for us, how Jesus was His plan for us, and how to live a dynamic, blessed and extraordinary life.
Unbelievers and many Christians misunderstand the Bible. They are scared to open it up. The have heard the 10 commandments and know they have not done very well with those and figure the rest will be more rules and regulations that they could never live up to. On the contrary, the Bible is one big beautiful narrative of God’s covenant love for mankind, pictured in His covenant love for Israel, fulfilled in the covenant sacrifice of Jesus, all for the benefit of those who choose to accept the free gift of the robe and ring offered by a loving father.
Israel was chosen, loved, delivered from slavery, tested, forgiven, and led to their promised land. They rebelled but were not forsaken, were faithless but God was faithful. In God’s heavenly creativity the Bible contains history, poems, prophesy, hymns, oracles, parables, and apocalyptic visions. The wisdom literature of proverbs reflects both the human and divine perspectives of reality. Our loving father over and over warns of the paths that lead to destruction and pain and heartache but promises He will forgive us and will be at our side as we cry and hurt and recover. He promises through historical narratives and parables and psalms and prophesies that He will never leave us nor forsake us and will walk with us through every valley and storm in life. God’s promises of love and care and guidance and mercy and forgiveness are reiterated over and over in every possible format.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the life of Jesus perfectly, written exactly like God wanted. They not only record the historical life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God but also reveal the treasures of the message in various ways, directed to people with different backgrounds, belief systems, and personalities. The life of the early church is recorded to show for all ages to come the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and the overcoming, victorious life available in Christ. The teachings of Jesus and the apostles remind every culture, every nation, every age that each day we have the opportunity to choose life or death in decisions we make. When we choose to obey God’s word, when we choose to go down the paths He tells us to follow and avoid the ones He tells us to avoid–the results are good. We are blessed. When we hold our tongue, when we consider others more important than ourselves, when we love and forgive, we are choosing life. Truth does not change. God’s word is forever settled in heaven. Those paths that were wrong 2000 years ago are still wrong. They still cause hurt and pain and scars. If we sow life and love and forgiveness and mercy, we will reap life and love and forgiveness and mercy. And the daily walk with our wonderful Father, through His kingdom, is full of opportunities and miracles and joy.
Deut 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Deut 32:46 (NLT) Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. These instructions are not empty words- they are your life!
Ps 33:4 (NLT) For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything He does.
Ps 86:11 (NLT) Teach me Your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.
Ps 119:11 (NLT) I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Ps 119:37 (NLT) Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word.
Ps 119:89 Your eternal word O Lord, is forever settled in heaven.
Ps 119: 105 (NLT) Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Ps 119:160 (NLT) The very essence of your words is truth; all your just regulations will stand forever.
Prov 30:5 (NLT) Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
Mark 13:31 (NLT) Heaven and earth will disappear but my words will never disappear.
Luke 8:21 (NLT) My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.
John 1:1-14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God… In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:21,23 Jesus said, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him”……“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him.